International disputes: In 2002, Gibraltar
residents vote overwhelmingly in referendum against “total
shared sovereignty”; the Government of Gibraltar insists on equal participation in talks between the UK and Spain; Spain disapproves of UK plans to grant Gibraltar even greater autonomy.

Gibraltar, at the south end of the Iberian
Peninsula, is a rocky promontory commanding the western entrance to the
Mediterranean. Aside from its strategic importance, it is also a free
port, naval base, and coaling station. It was captured by the Moorish
leader Tarik, crossing from Africa into Spain in 711, and its name is
derived from the Arabic, Jabal-al-Tarik (Mount of Tarik). In the
15th century, it passed to the Moorish ruler of Granada and later became
Spanish. It was captured by an Anglo-Dutch force in 1704 during the War of
the Spanish Succession and passed to Great Britain by the Treaty of
Utrecht in 1713. Since then Spain has continually laid claim to it. Most
of the inhabitants of Gibraltar are of Spanish, Italian, and Maltese
descent, and in 1981 Gibraltarians were granted full British citizenship.
Spanish efforts to recover Gibraltar culminated in a referendum in 1967,
in which the residents voted overwhelmingly to retain their link with
Britain. In response, Spain sealed Gibraltar's land border between 1969
and 1985.

In 2002, Britain and Spain discussed sharing the sovereignty of
Gibraltar. In reaction, the government of Gibraltar held a referendum in
Nov. 2002 in which the population voted almost unanimously against shared
sovereignty.